KIRK’s Gabba West plans
Featured image credit: KIRK Studio
The Australian Olympic Committee has warned that a final decision must be made on Brisbane 2032 venues by July.
AOC chief executive Matthew Carroll, speaking at a Senate hearing in Canberra, put forward the deadline due to escalating concerns about venue plans from the state and federal governments.
Some four years after Brisbane was awarded the Games, there is still a lack of clarity over whether new venues will be built, or which arenas will be selected to host events.
There are particular concerns as to which will be the Games’ main venue, with plans for a redeveloped Gabba Stadium or new A$3.4bn arena rejected by former premier Steven Miles last year. Miles’ decision to instead upgrade the Queensland Sport and Athletics Centre were derided by some with the modest venue some distance from Brisbane’s central district.
“I think it is time to finalise anymore reviews and settle on exactly what the two governments want to fund in terms of venues,” Carroll said at the hearing, which is assessing the adequacy of Australia’s preparedness to host the 2026 Commonwealth Games in Victoria and the 2032 Olympics in Brisbane
“I think that’s the first half of this year … for two reasons. One, the sports programme will be start to be fleshed out the following year, in 2026, and importantly also, to start the construction process or whatever work needs to be done, which will take a bit of time.”
100-day review
Queensland’s new Premier, David Crisafulli, officially launched a 100-day review into the Games in November, with a possible new main stadium still on the cards. Investment in venues has proven to be a hugely controversial subject ever since the International Olympic Committee (IOC) approved Brisbane as the home of the 2032 Games in July 2021.
The launch of what is the second review into the plans was an election pledge as Crisafulli claimed a victory for the Liberal National Party in October’s state election, ending Miles’ Labor Premiership.
Critical venue infrastructure will be funded by the Australian and Queensland Governments under the Brisbane 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games Intergovernmental Agreement signed in February 2023. The A$7.1bn (£3.57bn/€4.29bn/$4.47bn) venue infrastructure program will reshape some of Queensland’s most significant venues and precincts, aiming to leave a legacy for the community well after 2032.
KIRK this month became the latest design studio to put forward a proposal to remedy the challenge of delivering a main stadium for Brisbane’s staging of the 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games.
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